Method of automatically manufacturing knotted or tufted carpets



r 1,615,029 Jan. 18, 1927- U E A METHOD OF AUTOMATICALLY MANUFACTURING KNO'I'TED OR TUFTED CARP ETS Filed 061;. 12, 1923 Patented Jan. 18, 1927;

I 1,615,029 PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH MfiHLE; OF OELSNITZ, GERMANY, .ASSIGNOR T0 GOTTLIEIB LIEBENDEB, OF

OELSNITZ 1. VGTL, SAXONY.

METHOD Oil-AUTOMATICALLY MANUFACTURING KNOTTED OR TUIE'IED CARPETS- Application filed October 12, 1923, Serial No. 668,118, and in Germany October 18, 1922'.

This invention relates to a method of man- 'lutacturing colored knotted patterned or fancy carpet-s in a mechanical and automatic wav.

There are at present methods known, which enable the mechanical production of a colored patterned carpet. W'ith such methods, the knot-carriers are arranged behind the vertically displaced carpet surface or ground to successively bind the threads to the said knot-carriers. Then a binding device is arranged at the front side of the carpet surface, which seizes the binding thread kept ready behind the latter and knots said binding thread by the actuation of nippers. In consequence thereof, this method always requiring the formation of a so-called preliminary fabric becomes very complicated, since the binding operation causes a lot of work and consumes much 'time.

Furthermore this so-called preliminary fabric always has to be produced for a great number of carpets by ordinary weaving rocess. Other well-known devices serving or the manufacture of knots of all kinds mechanically had been found to be useless for .practical purposes.

Now he present invention enables the mechanical production of a colored patterned carpet by bringing about the automatic distribution of the different colored threads to be knotted.

My present invention primarily consists in that a plurality of binding means having gripping jaws are provided in front of a vertically arranged carpet ground or sur- ,face consisting solely of vertical warp threads and that said binding means are mechanically caused topass between two adjacent warp' threads of the carpet ground. Provided at the back of the warp threads of the carpet ground are as many colored thread presenters as there are binding means, and these presenters, under the control of a jacquard card, are moved in such a way that the thread suspended from the presenter is brought exactly into the range of the opened gripping jaws of the binding means, when the latter have passed behind the warp threads. The piece of colored thread gripped by the jaws is then, on the return of said binding means to initial p0- sition, pullednthrough the carpet ground to the front of said warp threads. As soon as the binding means have reached their initial position, a relative displacement is brought about between the warp thread ground and said binding means to such an extent that the jaws of the latter on a new forward movement thereof are laterally displaced a distance equal to two warp thread divisions. If the binding means then perform a forward movement once more the colored tuft threads are respectively placed around two warp threads in the form of a U and are furthermore bound to a knot, as is usual in the manufacture of carpets.

The new and characteristic feature of the present invention consists in that for each binding mechanism an individual colored thread presenter is used, and the bars carrying the colored threads are controlled from a common jacquard card, which is so large as to suffice for all binding mechanisms. Therefore, the succession of the colors of the pattern, which are to appear on the carpetsurface after the completion of the binding operation, is determined by the jacquard card corresponding in breadth to that of the carpet. Thus, for instance, if six hundred bindings are to be performed across the breadth of the carpet, the jacquard card along its breadth would have to have six hundred controlling parts to act upon the thread presenters corresponding to the bind ing means.

If the binding operationis accomplished in the manner indicated, the output will be considerably increased compared with the methods hitherto known, without impairing the variety of colorsin any way.

In order to make my invention more clear, I refer to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the steps of operation of the bindingmechanism and the colored thread presenters in such succession as to produce the finished knot.

Figs. 1-7 illustrate in top plan views the different steps in the formation of a Smyrna-knot and Figs. 814 illustrate in similar views the different steps in the formation of-a Persian-knot.

In the drawings, the verticallyextending warp threads of the ground fabric on which the knotsare to be bound are marked a. The colored threads or tuft threads e serving for the bindin are carried by vertically movable threa presenters b adapted to brin the tuft threads into the range of a thread gripper c. The presenter b is provided with a series of tubes (1 arranged above each other and serving as guides for the tuft threads. The gripper 0 consists of a pointed finger f recessed at g and in form and operation resembles the well-known needles or gripper needles provided in the hand actuated embroidering machine formerly in use. The gripping action is eflected by the lever c cooperating with the fin ger 7' through the medium of a strong spring h and adapted to be swung into open position by means of a cam shaft. (not shown) adapted to act on the end 0" of the lever c, as in the hand embroidering machines. Fulcrummed at 2' below the gripper, are two nipper arms is guided in a pair of movable bars Z by means of pins m, so that the jaws j of the nippers 7: will be opened or closed, when the bars are displaced relative to one another.

The steps of the operation of the above described mechanism are as follows:

The thread presenters, under the control of a jacquard card (not shown) adapted to extend across the whole breadth of the loom, are lifted more or less according to the corresponding controlling parts on said card, so that one or another colored tuft thread is brought into such a position that the gripper .0, when moved in'the direction of arrow y up to the thread presenter, will grasp the tuft thread. Fig.1 illustrates theinitial position of the gripper and Fig. 2 the moment the gripper is in the act of seizing the tuft thread, which is in the range of the thread presenter. At this moment the end of the lever c, by a corresponding movement of the cam shaft acting on the other end 0" of the lever 0', will close and thereby catch the thread 6. Now when the gripper moves back in the direction of the arrow 2, the tuft thread is drawn out of the thread presenter b and through the carpet ound passing between two adjacent warp reads a as is shown in Fig. 3.

Immediately after this movement, the bar B on which a large number of thread grippers are arranged (only one being shown in the drawings) makes a lateral movement i. e. will be displaced sidewards and thereby put the tuft thread around one of the warp threads a (Fig. 4) to which the knot isto be applied. The side movement of the grippers 1s of such an extent that when the gripper is moved again rearwardly in thedirection of the arrow the tuft thread is folded in the form of a hook around the adjacent second warp thread adapted to receive the knot, this ste Fig. 5. Before this, the nippers also have performed a forward movement in the direction of the arrowy, and, like the grippers c, on passing through the carpet being illustrated in ground, their jaws have opened to grip the two rear ends of the tuft thread from below, as is shown in Fig. 5.

As soon as the jaws j of the nipper 7.: are closed and the rear ends of the tuft thread are thus secured in their position, the thread gripper a will be caused to reopen by a corresponding action of the cam shaft, thereby releasing the previously gripped tuft thread and then return in the direction of the arrow 2, as shown in Fig. 6. Now the jaws j also make a backward movement and draw the tuft thread ends through the carpet ground passing between the warp threads in the manner illustrated in Fig. 7

The knot is now finished, all binding mechanisms move simultaneously with the colored thread presenters sidcwards the extent of a new division, and the operation is repeated in the aforedescribed manner.

By the above described method, a knot well-known in the carpet trade as Smyrnalrnot. is produced. However, a far better and more resistiblc knot providing the carpet fabric with greater strength and more density and compactness than the Smyrnaknot is the Persian-knot, which also may be produced by my present method.

For this purpose no change of the apparatus is required. Moreover the same devices and arrangements can be used that serve for the production of the 'Smyrnaknot. All that is necessary is to specially guide the warp threads to bring the latter exactly into .a predetermined position, so that the binding mechanism may, by performing the same actions as in the production of the Smyrna-knot, produce the Persian-knot.

To this end, the warp threads are alternately-guided in two movable parallel and adjacent bars, by the displacement of which in one direction the warp threads are made to cross one another, and by the displacement of which in the opposite direction the warp threads are restored to their normal position. In this manner, when the tuft threads are gripped in the same way by the grippers and a relative displacement of the binding elements and warp threads is brought about, instead of the typical U- shaped fold in the formation of the Smyrnaknot as shown in Fig. 7, the form shown in Fig. 14 is produced.

In Figs. 8-14, the warp threads are marked a and a, the point of the binding gripper f and the gripping lever 0 of the warp threads appear reversed in succession,

to wit: the periodical successionis no more a a. a a etc. but a a, a a, etc., as is shown in F 9, whereby the crossing of the warp threads in the course of their longitudinal direction is indicated. When this crossing of the warp threads has taken place, the binding grippers f, G are moved toward the carpet ground passing between two vertically extending warp threads directly above or below a crossing point through the carpet ground to theopposite side thereof and seizing the tuft thread projecting from the tube (Z of the thread presenter. I).

As is shown in Fig. 11, the binding gripper on its then following backward movelueut draws the tuft thread through the carpet ground. After this the bars heretofore referred to and whereby the warp threads are crossed come again into operation and restore the original position of the warp threads, as shown in Fig. 12.

The tuft thread passed throughthe carpet ground is then caused to assume the form shown in Fig. 12 by the tension of the warp threads itself, when the latter attain their initial position. While the binding grippers c, f now perform a renewed forward movement in the direction of the carpet ground, the back end of the tuft thread seized by the gripper will be passed throu h the earpetground and be brought into t e position shown in Fig. 13. e

As soon as this has taken place, a pair of nippers, of which there is one for each binding apparatus, will be moved through the carpet two en s of the tuft thread are seized and pulled forwardly through the carpet ground.

round from below, whereupon the.

Thereby the form of the thread illustrated in Fig. 14 is brought about, this end product being called Pe'rsianknot in the carpet trade or manufacture. The operation just described can be repeated at will.

Now it is not absolutely necessary to bring the two ends of the tuft thread to the other side of the warp ground. Moreover it is possible to make the knot solely by drawing one end of the tuft thread through the warp ground after the warp threads have been brought back to their initial position. Then exactly the same form would be attained as shown in Fig. 14.

What I claim is In a machine of the character described the combination with a vertically disposed carpet ground composed solely of warp threads, of an automatically controlled vertically movable and horizontally extending tuft presenter at the rear of said carpet ground, binding and nipping elements in front of said ground movable through and laterally relative to said carpet ground and means for moving said elements in such timed relation to one another that first the tuft thread is drawn by the gripping element through the space between two adjacent warp threads to the front of saidcarpet ground and folded over one of said warp threads and an adjacenflthread, then the rear ends of said tuft thread are drawn by i the nipping element through the space between said last named warp threads to the front of said carpet ground thereby completing the knot.

ture.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signa-' 

